Developer Opportunities from GDC 2017

Virtual reality became a lot less virtual at GDC 2017, and we were right in the mix with key sessions, announcements and upcoming programs that open up new opportunities for VR developers. Inside the walls of the Moscone Center in San Francisco last week, developers from around the world gathered to see the latest developments in software and hardware, mix and mingle with fellow devs and attend talks and panels given by luminaries from across the industry. That included a lot of news and buzz around VR.

For our part, we presented a keynote called “Holodeck Year 2,” where we broke down what we believe is going to grow the VR ecosystem in 2017. We also had panels with VR developers looking at recipes for success and the opportunity to expand the market through arcade and out-of-home VR experiences. The most important takeaway from what we communicated at GDC is that content and the creators behind it are going to drive VR forward this year. That means all of you in our development community.

We want to make sure you’re all aware of what Vive is doing to set up VR and VR developers for success. For that, we put together a recap of some of our key announcements and information shared with developers at GDC.

Viveport Subscription

Viveport has officially opened its doors to developers to sign onto the subscription service unveiled at CES earlier this year. This is a brand new opportunity for developers to reach a larger audience and better monetize their VR content. When the service launches later this spring, every Vive owner will have access to a free trial of Viveport subscription.

Rahul Sandil, VP of Marketing for Viveport, breaks down how the service works and how developers can benefit from opting into it in this video. If you are a developer, you can sign participate in the subscription service by logging in to the developer console: https://developer.viveport.com/console/.

Viveport Arcade

Location-based entertainment is going to play an important role in the continuing adoption of VR, representing a major touchpoint for more people to experience high-end VR. Vive is helping drive forward this part of the VR marketplace with our upcoming launch of Viveport Arcade, a turnkey platform to securely deliver content to thousands of arcade and amusement center operators around the world. The platform is currently in trial and is planned to open worldwide April 2017.

In the video below Jenna Seiden, Head of Content Acquisitions & Partnerships at Viveport, looks at how Viveport Arcade represents a significant opportunity for VR devs to reach a global audience, and could grow to $100 million market by the end of the year. For more information, please visit https://developer.viveport.com/arcade/

Vive Studios Developer Support

There are three major areas Vive Studios is helping developers turn their creative VR concepts into reality:

1) Technical expertise for platform optimizations and best practices in VR

2) Publishing services to help distribute content to more markets and help get the message out about great content

3) Investment and funding of content to grow development talent and the VR ecosystem.

In the video below Joel Breton, Head of Vive Studios, looks at how content is king in driving VR adoption, and how Vive is taking a platform agnostic approach to supporting the creation of high-quality VR content that can move the needle. For more information on Vive Studios, please visit https://www.vive.com/us/vive-studios/